


Eyes

by pulpriter



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Atmospheric, Dribbleofadrabble, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-29 10:43:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5124554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pulpriter/pseuds/pulpriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She didn't see the eyes she wanted to see</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little something while I'm working on several longer pieces that refuse to behave. I can't write poetry, but if I did, I think it would sound something like this.  
> These characters are not mine, I have hijacked (no pun intended) them.

Phryne was in a chic ballroom in Melbourne. The band was playing a lovely tune, romantic, evocative. She danced a slow and sensual dance with a partner who was everything she was accustomed to seeking. His looks were striking in an aristocratic sort of way. Sartorially, he was perfection, and a perfect match for her stunning finery. He had money to spare, as she did herself. He was careless and carefree. There was no question of a lasting relationship between them, because neither of them wanted that. She looked up into his attractive face, hoping to feel that frisson of enjoyment that a new partner always used to bring her, and was disappointed. She did not see the eyes she wanted to see.

Phryne had been to all the latest haunts of the well-to-do with the handsome son of a family friend. He appreciated art, and he appreciated beauty. He appreciated having Phryne on his arm, for all their society friends to see. They laughed together often, for he didn’t take anything seriously, as she herself claimed not to do. Life for him was a lighthearted proposition, having been blessed with money enough to never have to worry. She and he both knew what was tacitly expected when they ended up at his elegant lodgings. She made sure not to gaze up at his face too often. She would not see the eyes she wanted to see.

Phryne was enjoying an elegant meal at the finest restaurant in the city. The food was a sensual delight, and she had hoped for the same from her dinner partner. The man with her was a collector of rare antiquities, and he was most anxious to show her his collection. She accompanied him to his home, where he displayed all of the procurements of which he was most proud. There were so many, each one displayed in a beautiful, controlled setting. As the evening progressed the way it inevitably would, she began to realize that he had collected her as well. He admired her as he admired any acquisition. She turned her face aside; she did not see the eyes she wanted to see. 

Phryne was at the newest club in town, dressed to the nines in the latest _avant garde_ fashion. She had met a man who had seemed light and pleasant enough; she’d spend some time with him, and share a scandalous dance or two. She had started out to enjoy some small talk with him, but as their conversation went on, she noticed how every subject she introduced was noted, then replaced by conversation about whatever interested him more. She began to feel that her side of the conversation was not necessary to him, unless it was to appreciate what he said. She did not even stay to see how this one ended. She wouldn’t see the eyes she wanted to see. 

Phryne was in a squalid back alley, leaning over a rather grisly corpse. A shadow fell across her; he was there. She looked up with satisfaction; she had known she could count on him to appear. He pushed back the tails of his topcoat and crouched down beside her in the filthy pathway. He was close, and accessible if needed, but he did not reach for her. In a voice she would never fail to recognize, he asked gravely, “Well, Miss Fisher?” waiting to hear her opinions and ideas. Relief washed over her as she turned to him and her eyes met the eyes she wanted to see. They were deep and dark, and blue, and earnest, and gentle and unfathomable. She fell headfirst into them at the same time he fell into hers.

**Author's Note:**

> This is _a propos_ of nothing, and probably should be on Tumblr instead, but: the announcement of the possible Miss Fisher movie (announced last spring) just came across my newsfeed again for some reason. It mentions Phryne flying all over the world and having adventures, and it just hit me that maybe the MFMM writers went to such great lengths to get Phryne away from Melbourne so that she'd be away from Jack--free to have all kinds of unwise and careless liaisons? I wouldn't really be much interested in seeing that movie. Other opinions?


End file.
